Fundamentals of Good Screencasting

1. Decide upon a clear purpose for your screencast.

• Identify your audience as this can dictate many aspects of the quality and direction of your screencast.
• Just like a good lesson plan, consider what you want your audience to know or be able to do after viewing.
• Storyboard or pre-write your lesson. Double check the steps.

2. Prepare the Stage

• Think about what on your desktop you want to capture. Clear your desktop of distracting icons or windows.
• Just capture what you want to show - crop off any extra real estate.
• Don't capture more than a person can fit on their monitor. (no more than 1024x768, but 800x600 is safer).

3. Tell the Story in Scenes

• Identify the breaks, transitions, and connections within your screencast carefully.
• Remember that you can start over if you need to.
• Determine if you need multiple scenes (a video editing program)

4. Careful Narration

• Run through the cast with the script once or twice before recording.
• Slowly and carefully
• Follow the script. Don't confuse the message

Video Resources

Slow Down: The Basics from Screencast.com

Screencasting 101 - Basics Video

www.screencast.com/users/Training/folders/Screencast.com%20Training/media/def43ebd-469b-467e-968c-f4683ce9fc40

Talk to your IT people about the best file format for your audience.